This species is distinguished from all its congeners, except C. ornatipinnis, C. pulchra,

C. pardalis, C. melanostigma, C. stewartii, by the following characters: with a unique colour pattern, numerous large, black spots on the head and the body; differs from C. ornatipinnis in having black spots on dorsal and ventral sides of the head (vs. no spots on dorsal and ventral sides of the head, with spots restricted to the post-orbital lateral region of the head), and no dark spot on the anal fin of juveniles (vs. presence of series of up to 10 dark spots); differs from Channa pulchra in having black spots on the body well distributed above and below the lateral line (vs. sparsely distributed or absent on the body below the lateral line); differs from C. pardalis in having black spots all over the head (vs. spots restricted to post-orbital region of the head); differs from both C. stewartii, C. melanostigma in having well defined black spots on the head (vs. no spots on the head and restricted to the body) (Ref. 131057).